CARDS COACH - LEINART PREP FOR GAMES WAS LACKING: The ARIZONA REPUBLIC reports something this week we’ve all known for some time: That Matt Leinart doesn’t give a damn about football and isn’t willing to make a full-time commit to his real job.

The Republic reports that after Leinart’s miserable performance on Week 1 in a Cardinals loss, Arizona Coach Ken Whisenhunt told Matt Leinart that he wasnn’t working hard enough to prepare for games: “There may have been a little bit of a nudge, yes. I don’t think he wouldn’t have done it himself, but it was maybe a mutual thing.”

Cardinals running back Edgerrin James also indicated that Leinart’s prep routine wasn’t up to par, and that he was taking it upon himself to make sure #7 showed up early and stayed late: “I won’t let him breathe or give him a chance to slack off. I’ll be in his ear constantly, regardless of how he takes it. I really don’t care how somebody takes something. This is what we got to have.”

The result? Last Sunday, the Sunset Strip-slut-stalker lit up Seattle for 299 yards passing in a victory over the Seahawks.

Leinart: “I put in time this week to really understand our offense and know where every one is on every play.”

Great, so we’re assuming he didn’t do that during Week 1 and only worked hard when he had a gun placed to his head by coaches and teammates. Now that’s what we call a leader!